Skyward Episode 9: Knightmere

Previously on Skyward

 

 Brad takes a swig from his bottle of water. "Now, what say you we go visit your friend Rarity?"

"You said you took them to some ruins?" Sophie asks the man. She peeks over the edge of the hay cart and asks Axel, "Coming?"

Nolan plants a booted foot on top of an old wooden box and addresses his crew. "Then we'll have to resort to 'that'."

A shadowed figure sits alone in a room, and we see a closeup of his eyes.

A deep voice rumbles, "Soon."

 

[opening]

[spoiler]http://puu.sh/71Ny3[/spoiler]

 

Ｓａｉｎｔ＇ｓ　Ｂｒｏ

 

Three figures stand in the center of the town, in rather...interesting outfits.

[spoiler]http://puu.sh/74now[/spoiler]

"I look ridiculous," the taller of the three says, tugging a red scarf away from his mouth.

He's wearing a tan parka and blue jeans. A black beanie adorns his head, slightly askew, barely covering the red hair that lies beneath.

"Stop your bitching, you look fine Nolan. Least you're not in drag," his friend complains. He glares at the girl who is snickering on the side. "Why am I wearing a skirt, Amy?"

Amy continues to giggle but composes herself. She takes a deep breath. "Y-you've got..pffft....great legs."

She admires the knee-length floral print skirt. Soren really did have nice legs, long and slim. A long sleeved green blouse fits snugly over a lavender bra that Amy herself stuffed. "If only I had a camera."

Soren gasps, "Don't you fucking dare." He tugs at the skirt, wishing it was longer. His cheeks are pink from embarrassment.

Amy merely holds her hands up, indicating that she poses no threat. "Don't worry, I won't~"

"That singsong tone of yours says otherwise."

Nolan looks Soren over, his eyes lingering a bit longer than necessary. He brings a hand up to his cheek and just stares. "Never noticed that before, but Amy makes a good point."

Soren drops to his knees in disbelief, "Oh my god, not you too." He gives a strangled cry and erupts into sobbing.

Passerby give them all weird looks.

"That poor girl. Making her cry like that."

"You should be ashamed."

"Apologize to her, scum."

Amy cannot contain herself anymore and peals of laughter fill the square.

 

Ｅｌｓｅｗｈｅｒｅ

 

[spoiler]http://puu.sh/77cyW[/spoiler]

A black airfish flies silently over the Atlantic Ocean, seemingly harmless.

A shadowed figure paces around the bridge, boots making clanking noises over the steel floor.

"Roaches. All of them," the figure mutters, eyes skimming over the map projected on the main screen.

A black gloved hand stretches out and grasps a teacup, raising it to a pair of lips. A moment passes and the cup is smashed against the far wall, damaging a monitor. The figure turns to a young child, probably no older than eleven. "You call this swill tea?! Do it again!"

The child squeaks in fright and runs, tripping over his own feet.

Eyes follow the child, narrowed down to slits. They turn back to the ruined monitor and the offending tea dripping all over the floor. "Tch." The stranger folds their arms over their chest, impatiently taps their fingers on their forearms.

A door opens and another figure slips in, red heels clicking on the floor. "I've brought what you've requested, Master."

The shadow lifts its head, and lips form into a twisted smile. "Good." The new person sets a stack of papers neatly in front of their Master and steps back. "You're dismissed, Veena."

 The one called Veena inclines her head and turns to leave. A small glimpse of her pale white neck is shown before she exits the room.

 "Who knew that Veena would make an excellent puppet." the shadow quietly muses. It throws its head back and laughs.

It reaches for the top paper, a picture of Nolan is attached to it. "Aaah, now there's a lad I have not seen in quite some time. Currently in..." the figure pauses and it crumples the paper.Its hands seem to be shaking. "This is..." He sets the paper down and walks to the steering wheel of the ship. "Set course for Wexford, full speed. It's time to finish an old friend off."

Cue shot from outside the ship as it turns and accelerates to the East and vanishes.

 

Ｓａｉｎｔ＇ｓ　Ｂｒｏ

[spoiler]http://puu.sh/7ctJN[/spoiler]

 

Amy walks into a tool shop, Nolan at her side. Soren follows a little slower, still tugging down on his skirt.

Among the shelves, Amy's face brightens up. "Oooh! This! I want this!" She pulls on some cable wires. "These and...that!"

She goes on ahead, happily picking out whatever strikes her fancy.

Soren finally reaches Nolan, face very red. A few other customers can't help but stare at him, one even daring to catcall.

"I don't like it!" he mutters, pressing himself against a wall.

Nolan smirks, "You don't, but they certainly do." He nods back to the others still looking. This gives him an idea.

Standing in front of Soren he leans in as close as he can without actually touching him.

[spoiler]http://puu.sh/71LVl[/spoiler]

Soren panics, "What are you doing?!"

"Shut up and play along," Nolan hisses. He pulls back and gives him a cheeky grin. Turning around, he glares at the other patrons and wraps an arm around his friend.

Most start pretending to be very interested in the items they are holding. Others are making disappointed faces.

He whispers to Soren, "See? I've got this. Don't worry your pretty little he-"

 

SMACK

 

Nolan is stopped mid-sentence and a fuming Amy rears her hand for another slap.

"Ah...y-you..." Amy's face turns red and she runs off.

 

Soren is in disbelief, looking between his captain and Amy's retreating back.

Nolan touches his cheek and winces. "That's one thing I'll never have. Hahaha."

He lowers his head and tugs his beanie down. "I'm off. Try not to get yourself groped."

"Heh?"

 

Nolan exits the shop and rubs his stinging cheek.

Dropping his hand down to his side, he tries to find Amy, but the milling crowd outside makes it impossible.

How hard should it be to find that distinct hair color amidst this sea of people?

He lets out a tired grunt and heads for an alleyway.

With a determined look crossing his face, he climbs up to the roof of one of the shops.

Surely he'd be able to spot her this way.

But all he sees are the rooftops of other buildings, and just over the horizon, the fin of his airship.

"Amy...where did you go?"

 

Ｊｕｄｇｅｍｅｎｔ

 

Sophie hangs limp over the edge of the cart, doing her best not to throw up.

"You can only blame yourself for that, lawyer."

She drags herself back into the cart to find Axel Jones, sitting opposite of her,eyes hidden behind those infernal shades. "Kch...don't make...fun of m-me."

She can barely muster the strength to lift her hand and shove him.

It's like a kitten trying to knock over the Eiffel Tower.

He merely raises a brow and stands up. "HOW MUCH LONGER UNTIL WE ARRIVE, OLD MAN?!" he yells.

Zoom in on the man who is now muttering to himself, "I'm not old. I'm barely in my mid 20's..."

"OLD MAN!"

He sighs, "15 minutes, boy."

Axel decides to jump on the empty spot next to him. "Uwaah?!"

"NOTHING AGAINST THE WAY YOU COMMANDEER THIS VESSEL, BUT I MUST TAKE THE REINS!"

[spoiler]"NANI SORE!"[/spoiler]

The reins are yanked away and the man finds himself on the dirt road, staring as this stranger drives off with it.

Shaking his fist, all he can do is yell, "YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!!!"

 

Sophie feels the cart jerk, then the sound of a loud thud.

Voice Over: I can't...open my eyes...

 

Ｓａｉｎｔ＇ｓ　Ｂｒｏ

Ａｍｙ

 

Amy is running. She doesn't care where she ends up now.

She passes buildings, most charred black from a fire.

The air smells of ash and decay, but she doesn't care.

Her feet take her past a crumbling bridge and towards an old storehouse on the far side of Wexford.

Voice Over: "Nolan, you're so stupid! Stupidstupidstupidstupidstupidstupid!"

"STUUUUPIIIIID!" she screams as she punches a wall, making a sizable crack on the side of the building.

She doesn't even flinch when blood begins to trickle out from her knuckles where they scraped against the wall.

[spoiler]http://puu.sh/7fKYL[/spoiler]

She tries to take a few deep breaths to calm herself down, but she can feel tears stinging her eyes.

Amy wipes at her eyes and looks up at the darkening sky. She laughs a little. "Why am I even here...?"

She leans against the wall and hugs herself.

A noise catches her attention and she tenses up.

She then realizes two things.

One, it's starting to get dark.

And two, she's alone and too isolated to scream for help.

"Geh...I should...go back..." she takes a few steps, but this unshakeable feeling that she's being hunted locks her legs.

She's shaking and she tries to pinpoint the source.

She reaches into her tool belt and extracts her wrench.

"How stupid..." she whispers in despair.

A wrench would do her no good if the enemy has firearms or if it's an entire group.

She curses herself for coming here. For running away. For getting jealous of something so idiotic.

 

[spoiler]http://puu.sh/7fU7K[/spoiler]

Click-clack click-clack

The sound of approaching footsteps.

Amy braces herself, but nothing happens.

She glances around, every fiber of her being frightened.

But everything is quiet. The only sounds she can hear are those of her breathing and her heartbeat.

She lets out a breath and pushes off from the wall, tucking the wrench back into her tool belt.

She makes it around the storehouse and runs into someone.

Thinking it's Nolan, she puts on her best angry face and looks up.

Her eyes widen and she backs up.

"You..."

The person in front of her merely tilts their head and says, "Me?"

Then everything goes black.

 

Ｓａｉｎｔ＇ｓ　Ｂｒｏ

Ｎｏｌａｎ　ａｎｄ　Ｓｏｒｅｎ

 

[spoiler]http://puu.sh/7fVn6[/spoiler]

Soren and Nolan are back in their normal clothes, standing on top of a roof.

"Not a trace. I'm starting to get worried." Soren says, tapping out a cigarette from its case and lighting it. "She even left her comms with her jacket."

Nolan makes a face, "I should have gone after her immediately and explained what I was doing." He reaches out and takes Soren's cigarette and proceeds to stomp it out. "Cut that shit out, it's gross."

His friend snorts, "Grosser than having you up in my face?" He turns away and walks towards the edge of the roof, watching the late-night activities of the town's people.

He kneels down, noting all possible escape routes, if needed. "Besides..you're worrying over the wrong thing. Prioritize Amy's safety over my health, idiot."

There is a small pause before Nolan speaks, "I'm doing both. But I'm acting on what I can do NOW. And since Amy..." He clears his throat. "Amy isn't here right now so..." He clenches a fist. "That's why I-!"

 

THUP!

 

A dart just barely misses Nolan's head by an inch and embeds itself on an exposed wooden rafter.

Soren jumps into action, unclipping a gun from his belt. "You all right?"

Nolan nods, and looks at the dart. There is a note attached to it.

 

> We have your crewmate.

 

That's it. He turns the note over and over but that is the only message he sees.

"Ｎｏｒｍａｎｄｉｅ?" Soren snatches the note and has a look for himself.

He frowns and hands it back to Nolan. "Shit."

 

Ｅｌｓｅｗｈｅｒｅ

Ａｍｙ

 

[spoiler]http://puu.sh/7gGoT[/spoiler]

 

It's still dark when Amy opens her eyes.

She groans and tries to rubs her eyes.

The sound of clinking chains fills the room and she slowly comes to realize her situation.

"..." she pulls at her binds, testing for any sort of weakness. None. "Great."

Slowly but surely, her eyes begin to adjust and she can see somewhat.

Next she looks around her new 'home' lips set in a firm line. The floor is rumbling, meaning that wherever she is, she's moving.

"You're finally awake."

Amy snaps her head up at the voice and sees a man standing in the shadows. "Who are you?" she demands.

"Come now, are you really in such a position to make demands, little girl?" he sneers and walks towards her.

 

Credits

[spoiler]http://puu.sh/72I2z[/spoiler]